Through the Early Childhood Intervention Program (ECI), Bluebonnet Trails offers services that help infants and toddlers (birth to 3 years of age) with disabilities or delays achieve their developmental milestones. By coaching families and caregivers how to embed learning strategies into everyday routines, we work as a team to maximize your child’s greatest potential. We also assist parents to access the resources they need to function at their best while focusing on the specific needs of the ECI child.

Children referred to ECI will receive a developmental evaluation to determine eligibility for services according to the requirements of the State of Texas. The evaluation team, with the family’s input, will determine the most suitable services for the child’s needs. The services offered in Bluebonnet Trails’ Early Childhood Intervention Program are described below.

Special Skills Training: Our ECI Program offers Special Skills Training for infants and toddlers that demonstrate developmental delays. Services are provided by an Early Intervention Specialist, who has broad knowledge of development and can address delays in language development, thinking skills, social-emotional development, and gross or fine motor skills. We also help the family integrate skills taught by therapists across developmental domains.

Occupational Therapy: A Licensed Occupational Therapist (OT) may work with your child on enhancing their physical, sensory, or cognitive development. Depending on the age and needs of your child, the OT may work on gross or fine motor skills, feeding difficulties, or sensory integration techniques.

Physical Therapy: A Licensed Physical Therapist may work with your child to increase strength and muscle tone of the large muscles involved in standing, walking, climbing, running, and more.

Speech Therapy: A Speech-Language Pathologist addresses difficulties with producing the sounds expected of his or her language. We may also teach augmentative communication techniques if the child continues to have problems with language development. Feeding and oral-motor strengthening may be part of the developmental plan.

Counseling: A Licensed Professional Counselor or Licensed Clinical Social Work may provide assistance with behavioral concerns (extreme tantrums, difficultly with compliance, sleeping difficulties, etc.) or attachment disorders including working with adoptive and foster children.

Nutrition: The services of a Registered Dietician may be requested if a child has an extremely limited dietary intake, has a history of poor growth, or is transitioning from mechanical feeding (such as a gastrointestinal tube) to normal feeding in order to ensure appropriate nutrition.

Auditory and Visual Impairment: A child with a visual or hearing impairment may be eligible for services from certified teachers who specialize in deaf and blind education. These specialists teach families how to maximize their child’s hearing or vision in order to help meet developmental and/or educational goals.

Service Coordination: A Service Coordinator is assigned to each family in order to coordinate the services of the ECI team and/or outside service providers or agencies, to handle associated and necessary paperwork, and to assist the family in accessing any needed supports. Our Service Coordinators also monitor the family’s satisfaction with services and progress toward goals, makes arrangements for any additional services that may be needed, and schedules periodic reviews of the service plan. We will assist the family in preparing for any needed supports when the child turns three and leaves the program.

NEW! Parents as Teachers (PAT): Offers practical help to families from the time they learn of a pregnancy until their child’s first day of Kindergarten. Families may enroll at any time during these life-changing stages. PAT is free of charge for any interested parent or family. At the heart of PAT, personal visits are conducted in the home or a place the family chooses by a certified parent educator trained in child development. BASTROP COUNTY ONLY. This program plans to expand to other counties in the future.

ECI’s New Referral Number (1-877-787-8999) Replaces DARS Inquiries Line

Effective September 1, 2016, the DARS Inquiries Line (1-800-628-5115) was transferred to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and will no longer serve as the referral line for ECI. The new referral line for ECI is now located in the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Ombudsman at1-877-787-8999. All ECI-related calls received by TWC will be forwarded to the HHS Office of the Ombudsman. Please inform your staff, referral sources, and stakeholders to update their contact list to reflect the new number.